Facebook cofounder, chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

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Facebook cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg completed his second and final day of Congressional testimony on Wednesday, in a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Lawmakers opened the hearing by noting its purpose was to examine “breaches of trust” by Facebook and the broader relationship between tech companies and their users.

The House committee’s questions were more pointed and combative than the Senate’s yesterday, digging into concerns about the scope of Facebook’s data collection, whether Facebook communicates its policies simply enough to users and the social network’s security vulnerabilities. Lawmakers on Wednesday also pummeled Zuckerberg on Facebook’s failure to quickly and consistently moderate harmful activity, such as opioid sales on the social network and hate speech, through both unpaid posts and advertisements. (Last week, the Food And Drug Administration called on Facebook and other internet companies to better monitor the online sales of illegal opioid drugs.) While Zuckerberg appeared tense and uncomfortable at points, he remained measured overall, with his confidence seeming to grow over time.

“It is time to ask whether Facebook may have moved too fast and broken too many things," Rep. Greg Walden (R., Ore.) said in an opening statement. "There are critical, unanswered questions surrounding Facebook’s business model and the entire digital ecosystem regarding online privacy and consumer protection."

Lawmakers underscored Facebook’s ethical responsibility to make its data and privacy practices clearer to users. In an exchange with Rep. Ben Ray Lujuan (D, New Mexico), Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook does “in general… collect data on people who are not signed up for Facebook.” Zuckerberg said this collection is done for “security” purposes, but he did not outline the scope of this information or whether people have been informed that Facebook has this information.

Protecting U.S. Democracy

Rep. Anna Eschoo (D, Calif.) asked if Facebook has “a moral responsibility” to protect U.S. democratic institutions, which Zuckerberg affirmed. Zuckerberg repeatedly referenced the steps Facebook is taking to track where the data obtained by Cambridge Analytica may have been transferred or shared and the company’s efforts to audit every app that had access to large amounts of data before Facebook restricted its data collection policies in 2014. However, he said he did not know how many apps Facebook needs to audit or how many firms researcher Aleksandr Kogan may have provided Facebook data to, other than Cambridge Analytica. He acknowledged that if Cambridge Analytica is hosting the data in a foreign country it would be challenging for Facebook to access it.

After Rep. Eshoo asked directly if he had been affected by the leak, Zuckerberg disclosed that his data had also been among the 87 million users’ information sold to Cambridge Analytica.

‘Inevitable’ Regulation

The 33-year-old chief executive took a firmer stance on regulation on Wednesday, saying he thinks it “is inevitable that there will need to be some regulation” of his industry, but that “you have to be careful about what regulations you put in place.” Zuckerberg noted that some regulation could be manageable for large companies but more burdensome for startups. A day prior, Zuckerberg hedged his openness to regulation, saying he would welcome it “if it’s the right regulation.”

Both panels Tuesday and Wednesday signaled that they were ready to begin exploring new regulation for large tech companies. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R, Tenn.) noted that medical and financial privacy laws have been stricter than those that govern internet companies, pointing to a stack of compliance documents that dicated what companies in these industries can do. It is unlikely, however, that any sweeping regulation of Facebook would be passed this year. Proof from Facebook that bolstered security and moderation efforts have yielded measurable results could help curb urgency among lawmakers in exploring regulation.

Lawmakers on both panels asked Zuckerberg for his thoughts on new privacy protections for European consumers called the General Data Protection Regulation, which is set to take effect in late May with the aim of holding businesses and government bodies more responsible for how how they store, use and share information about consumers and employees. Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that Facebook will extend the changes it is making in response to the European legislation available worldwide on the company’s services.

“The GDPR has a bunch of different important pieces,” Zuckerberg said. “One is offering controls over — that we’re doing. The second is around pushing for affirmative consent and putting a control in front of people that walks people through their choices. We’re going to do that, too. ... We’re going to put a tool at the top of people’s apps that walks them through their settings.”

Questions On Political Bias

Zuckerberg faced a series of questions on Wednesday about whether Facebook’s algorithm could have a potential bias against conservatives. Lawmakers pressed Zuckerberg about Facebook’s choice to restrict the distribution of content by Diamond and Silk, two African American supporters of President Trump who have used social media to address Trump critics. Zuckerberg said the restriction of Diamond and Silk’s content was an enforcement error.

Zuckerberg noted several times that he believes the company’s constantly improving artificial intelligence tools will enable Facebook to more quickly and proactively monitor harmful content.

“The sheer volume of content on Facebook means no amount of people can vet all content on Facebook,” Zuckerberg said.

The Senate and House panels both grilled Zuckerberg about whether Facebook’s news feed might favor left-leaning views and content.

“There is absolutely no directive in any of the changes that we make to have a bias in anything that we do,” Zuckerberg said on Wednesday. “To the contrary, our goal is to be a platform for all ideas.”

When asked about support Facebook provided to President Trump and former Senator Hillary Clinton leading up to the presidential election, Zuckerberg insisted that neither candidate received any special treatment.

“We apply the same standard to all campaigns,” Zuckerberg said.

Attention to Zuckerberg’s hearing was eclipsed in part by news that broke on Wednesday that House Speaker Paul Ryan won’t run for reelection, leaving a major leadership gap in the House Republican caucus. On Tuesday, concerns about strikes in Syria and talk that special counsel Robert Mueller might get fired swirled in Washington.